Sexual Orientation and Military Service

[DuncanONeil]

But that only seems to affect us guys. The ladies seem to be much more comfortable about such things than most of us seem willing to even begin to think about!

My strictly personal opinion is that it is fear: fear that "someone might become sexually aroused by my nudity" and that, through some mysterious system of osmosis or something, "that might make me gay."

I think much of this can be attributed to a rigid code of morality which views the naked human body as obscene. Remove the fear, or disgust, of nudity and you remove much of the foundation of the fear of gays.

I have no evidence for this hypothesis, only my own feelings and observations.

[Thorne]

But that only seems to affect us guys. The ladies seem to be much more comfortable about such things than most of us seem willing to even begin to think about!

I agree, it does seem more prevalent among men. Probably because women tend to be more open about showing emotion, due to cultural conditions more than anything else. Real men don't cry, real men don't hug other men, that kind of thing. All crap, really, but that's the way we're taught.

[DuncanONeil]

Perhaps but it may be more basic than that.
In the past the division of labor was between camp and hunting. In camp you can have a very social and gregarious nature. However the same behaviours on the hunt will likely leave you hungry. With the amount of time spent in such activity the needs of quiet and care likely became more ingrained, unconsciously. Add to that the observation of the manner of behaviour among the women, in primitive understanding, could easily become to be marked as difference between the genders. With the belief than supported that such actions or behaviour would label that "hunter" as a women.
Just a thought, no basis nor classroom interaction created this. The differences seem so ingrained they have to have been inculcated in the human psyche in humanities youth.

I agree, it does seem more prevalent among men. Probably because women tend to be more open about showing emotion, due to cultural conditions more than anything else. Real men don't cry, real men don't hug other men, that kind of thing. All crap, really, but that's the way we're taught.

[Thorne]

Perhaps but it may be more basic than that....Add to that the observation of the manner of behaviour among the women, in primitive understanding, could easily become to be marked as difference between the genders. With the belief than supported that such actions or behaviour would label that "hunter" as a women.

I don't think you can go that far. In many primitive cultures women would hunt, supplementing the male hunters, as long as they were not pregnant or nursing. Like modern day soldiers, women could deal with the rigors of hunting just as easily as the men. The gregarious manner of women, in reality, is no different from the males bonding around the campfire, or at the local bar, after a hard day on the hunt. With the women, though, it was a more constant thing, while gathering plants and fruits, cooking, caring for the young, etc.

[IAN 2411]

I don't think you can go that far. In many primitive cultures women would hunt, supplementing the male hunters, as long as they were not pregnant or nursing. Like modern day soldiers, women could deal with the rigors of hunting just as easily as the men. The gregarious manner of women, in reality, is no different from the males bonding around the campfire, or at the local bar, after a hard day on the hunt. With the women, though, it was a more constant thing, while gathering plants and fruits, cooking, caring for the young, etc.

You are quite correct Thorn, the Amazons were not a ficticious race, they were trained by the Romans to fight in the arena. It is writen though that they became to powerful for the Romans to handle, instead of the Romans putting them to death, they were taken to the Russian stepps and released. There are tapastries showing them fighting Atilla the Hun before Siberia and the Sayan mountains were lost to the Russians. They were all women, and the stories say they attacked other villages for the men, but only for breeding, but after the women mated the men were not killed as it is generaly thought, the Amizons looked after their men and they kept house while the women went hunting. I have spent over seven years studying the Amazons, because it is part of a book that i hope to be published this year.

[DuncanONeil]

I had no intent to discount what you said here. Though that is in the specific, rather than the general. One of the big arguments in SCA was the reality of women fighters in the ages represented. The women proved their case!
It is just that I see the general nature of the species and it division of labor as being a potential for the differences in PDAs. As for bonding, true, but that bonding also usually centers around shared activities, which also would make for differences in PDAs.
As basic as I can put it male/male PDAs and female/female PDA are likely to have arisen as a result of our maturation as a species.

I don't think you can go that far. In many primitive cultures women would hunt, supplementing the male hunters, as long as they were not pregnant or nursing. Like modern day soldiers, women could deal with the rigors of hunting just as easily as the men. The gregarious manner of women, in reality, is no different from the males bonding around the campfire, or at the local bar, after a hard day on the hunt. With the women, though, it was a more constant thing, while gathering plants and fruits, cooking, caring for the young, etc.

[DuncanONeil]

We had huge discussions in SCA about our female members that wanted to engage in combat. It was a long and interesting battle but it became apparent that women in combat, while rare, was not an aberration. But even making that determination it was clear that by and large such was not the case. And I was speaking to the larger population rather than specific. Specifics can be a tough nut to swallow when discussing large groups.

I don't think you can go that far. In many primitive cultures women would hunt, supplementing the male hunters, as long as they were not pregnant or nursing. Like modern day soldiers, women could deal with the rigors of hunting just as easily as the men. The gregarious manner of women, in reality, is no different from the males bonding around the campfire, or at the local bar, after a hard day on the hunt. With the women, though, it was a more constant thing, while gathering plants and fruits, cooking, caring for the young, etc.